Jewish Greetings

One of the things I learned in rabbinical school was how to greet people with appropriate Jewish / Hebrew phrases, depending on the day, the season, and even before / during / after certain life-cycle events.  Here's a little cheat sheet that would've been useful for me years ago:

Phrase - Translation - When to use it

Shalom (or L'shalom) - Hello, goodbye, peace - Anytime
L'hitraot - See you again soon - Whenever you're saying goodbye to someone
Shabbat shalom - Have a peaceful Shabbat! - Weds through Sat
Shavua tov - Have a good week - Sat night through Tues
Shana tovah (or L'shana tovah) - Happy New Year - Starting about a month before the High Holy Days and up until / including Rosh Hashanah
Shana tovah u'metukah - Have a happy & sweet New Year - Same as "shana tovah"
G'mar chatimah tovah or g'mar tov - May you be sealed for good (i.e. may you be sealed in the Book of Life on Yom Kippur) - Between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur
Tzom kal - Have an easy fast - Before any day on the Jewish calendar when it's customary to fast (including Yom Kippur)
Chag sameach - Happy holiday! - Before and during holidays that are 'chagim,' which includes the first and last days of Sukkot & Passover, Shavuot
Moadim l'simcha - It's the season/times of joy - During chol ha'moed, which includes the middle days of Sukkot & Pesach (in other words, you begin the holiday saying Chag sameach, then you say Moadim l'simcha for about a week, then Chag sameach at the end of the holiday)
Chag Sukkot sameach - Happy holiday of Sukkot - First and last days of Sukkot
Chanukah sameach - Happy Chanukah - Before/during Chanukah
Chag urim sameach - Happy holiday of lights - Before / during Chanukah
Chag Purim sameach - Happy holiday of Purim - Before/ during Purim
Chodesh tov - Happy new month - On Rosh Hodesh (the first day or two of each Hebrew month)
Yasher koach - Great job - When someone accomplished something or did something great (i.e. 'nice job chanting Torah!')
Mazal tov - Congratulations - When something exciting happens, such as the birth of a new baby, a wedding, etc.
B'sha'ah tovah - In good time (also has a congratulatory connotation) - When you find out that someone is pregnant (in other words, you don't say 'mazal tov' until the baby is born since it's not a 'done deal' yet... rather, you say 'b'sha'ah tovah' to mean, may the baby come at a good time, i.e. when s/he is really ready to be born and no sooner)
Kol tuv / kol tov - All is good, may all be good - A generic greeting that closes letters / e-mails any time of the year
B'ezrat Ha'shem - With God's help - When you're hopeful and/or cautious about something
Baruch dayan ha'emet - Praise the Judge of truth - When you first hear about a death... The phrase is said in order "to acknowledge that the poignant mystery and tender thread between life and death is in God's hands, so to speak" (Rabbi Howard Ruben's beautiful explanation)

Let me know if you have other Jewish greetings / phrases you've heard and I left off this list... I'm happy to add more!

Must-Read Articles

Today I read two fantastic articles about re-inventing Jewish education that echo my views of what Jewish education can & should be.  I thought I'd pass them along:

Reinventing Jewish Education by Dr. Jonathan Woocher, eJewishPhilanthropy.com

Religious Schools add Family Programs, New Apps by Rachel Heller, JewishJournal.com

Summer turns to fall...

Hard to believe we are just a few short weeks away from the beginning of the school year!  Where does the time go?  Every summer I go through a similar pattern:

• May - Religious School ends, I frantically finish everything from the previous school year so that the summer months can be spent visioning and preparing for the following year. 
• June - "I have so much time on my hands!"  Haha, right.  I always think that the summer is long and I'll be able to get to all the things that I put off during the school year - clean my office, read the books that have piled up on my desk, spend a lot of one-on-one time with congregants, etc.  However, I start to work on the tachlis (logistical details) of the year to come, as well as visioning & curriculum development, and before I know it, it's...
• July - This month is the meat of my summer.  Other than taking a short vacation, I usually spend July working on teacher contracts, curriculum development, and adult education.  This is also the time I attend workshops, conferences, and generally have conversations that help me to plan out the 'big picture' of Religious School for the upcoming year.
• August - "WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO?"  This is usually my refrain for the month of August, as I become swamped with the details of getting our program up and running by September - finalizing enrollment #s and teacher assignments, ordering books/supplies, assigning classroom spaces, creating and mailing class placement letters, planning and leading a faculty retreat, recruiting and training teen TA's, preparing details for the year-long calendar, developing and working with teams of lay leaders, and of course, working with teachers to plan their programs.  It's a very busy month, and it always flies by.  We also have Camp Kefli in August at Temple Isaiah (which I try to attend here and there), and in some years, the High Holy Days creep up as well.  Then all of a sudden it's...
• September - Back to school!

Hopefully this little overview gives you a sense of what I usually do all summer.  I'm guessing that some people wonder what rabbis and educators do all summer long when families go on vacation and kids go to camp, when Religious School is out of session and our regular cycle of programming is quieter than usual.  For me, summer is a wonderful time to get things done in the office, continue to build relationships with teachers, colleagues, and parents, and do the visioning that can sometimes get muddled during the year. 

Now here comes the school year....!!